If no consensus over govt nominee, opposition to decide candidate: Mamata

Bengal: West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee today stated that the if the nominee suggested by the government is not acceptable by them then the opposition party will form a committee to choose a Presidential candidate.

“For the Presidential election, the decision (of the meeting) is ‘Let us wait’ for the name of the candidate that may be given by the government, and if it satisfies all of us, then we can take a look at it. He should be secular and uphold the Constitution. If there is no consensus, then a committee (of opposition leaders) will be formed that will decide (on the opposition candidate),” she told reporters coming out of the luncheon meeting convened by Congress President Sonia Gandhi in Parliament House.

She said there was no harm in discussing a candidate with the government if it comes out with it.

She referred to the 2002 Presidential election when the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had floated A.P.J. Abdul Kalam’s name and a consensus was evolved around it.